Wrongful conviction of Peter Sullivan

On the morning of 2 August 1986, the body of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, a barmaid from Seacombe, Merseyside, was found half-naked in an alleyway near Fearnley Road off Borough Road in Birkenhead. She had suffered severe blunt-force injuries to her head and face, stab wounds to her chest and genitals, mutilation consistent with bite marks, and sexual assault. She had run out of fuel while driving home from work at The Wellington Hotel in Bebington and was last seen walking along Borough Road near the Mersey Tunnel in conversation with an unidentified man in a leather jacket. Witnesses reported hearing screaming and an argument between midnight and 2 a.m. The cause of death was a brain haemorrhage from repeated blows to the head. The case, one of the largest investigations in Merseyside Police history, generated widespread fear across the region, and the unidentified attacker became known by names including "the Beast of Birkenhead" and "the Mersey Ripper."

Peter Sullivan, an unemployed labourer from Birkenhead, was arrested on 23 September 1986 based on circumstantial evidence, including inconsistent statements about his whereabouts. While in police custody Sullivan was denied food, sleep, and legal representation, and was threatened with rape charges unless he confessed. He reportedly confessed on 24 September in an unrecorded statement, then withdrew and later repeated the confession before withdrawing it again once he obtained access to a solicitor on 25 September. Police allegedly guided Sullivan toward the correct location of hidden clothing after he initially pointed to the wrong place. A psychologist later described Sullivan as "suggestible" with "limited intellectual capacity," and police did not provide a legally required appropriate adult despite being aware of his learning disabilities.

At his 1987 trial, the prosecution relied on Sullivan's confessions and bite-mark analysis matching him to marks on Sindall's body; semen samples were not tested for DNA because the technology was unavailable to Merseyside Police at the time. Sullivan pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years, maintaining his innocence throughout.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission rejected a review application in 2008, and the Court of Appeal rejected a further application in 2019. In 2021 the CCRC determined that forensic advances made retesting worthwhile; results showed Sullivan's DNA did not match semen samples from the crime scene, instead revealing an unknown DNA profile. In May 2025, the Court of Appeal quashed Sullivan's conviction, and he was released at age 68 after serving 38 years. Merseyside Police are investigating the unmatched DNA profile, which does not correspond to Sindall's family or fiancé, and plan to seek samples from other individuals investigated during the original inquiry. Under UK law, Sullivan must still prove his innocence "beyond reasonable doubt" to claim compensation. A Labour MP has called for an independent inquiry, and in January 2026 a £20,000 reward was offered for information leading to a conviction of Sindall's killer.